Patterson, Mostly Listening, Opens Chairman Bid

Supporters Point to Her Oversight of D.C. Agencies in Outlining Her Qualifications for Council's Top Post

Kathy Patterson accepts a campaign flag from Calder Brown, 4, while launching her bid for D.C. Council chairman. At right are Calder's grandmother Maxine Brown and mother, Tami Lewis. (By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)

Saying simply that "there is work to be done," D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) officially kicked off her campaign yesterday for the city's No. 2 elected position, chairman of the council.

Launching her bid from her new campaign headquarters above a hardware store on Capitol Hill, Patterson, 57, mostly let others speak about her qualifications, which they said included her dogged oversight of city agencies, especially in matters involving public safety and education, her advocacy of sound fiscal management and her dedication to good government practices.

Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp is running for mayor, leaving the agenda-setting position up for grabs when her term expires at the end of the year. A few of Patterson's colleagues have eyed the job, including Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), who announced last month on a radio program that he will challenge Patterson for the seat. Gray will officially kick off his campaign Saturday.

Patterson, a three-term council member from the city's most affluent ward, almost faced competition from colleague and friend Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) after he decided not to run for mayor. But Evans dropped out of the race in December, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Robert V. Brannum, an advisory neighborhood commissioner, also is running for the position.

The racially mixed crowd yesterday included longtime supporters and others from outside the traditional Patterson political base.

They included Pearl Beale, 60, a former D.C. resident who lives in Prince George's County. She said Patterson contacted her after learning that Beale's 22-year-old son had been stabbed to death while being held at the D.C. jail. Patterson asked her to testify at a council hearing on violence at the facility.

"I truly believe her passion, her caring, her tough oversight of agencies is a reflection of the person she is," Beale said.

Patterson, joking at times about her "angry woman" image, has been a relentless overseer of D.C. government agencies. In her first term, she focused on the District's dire fiscal straits; a federally appointed financial control board later was established. Later, as chairman of the council's Committee on the Judiciary, Patterson held Chief Charles H. Ramsey accountable on issues of police misconduct. An investigation was conducted into alleged civil rights violations stemming from the arrests of about 400 people during downtown anti-globalization protests in September 2002.

Now chairman of the education committee, a post she said she had coveted for years, Patterson recently helped push through a $1 billion school modernization bill.

As Patterson launched her bid for chairman, a few D.C. voters reported receiving a phone call from a polling firm asking questions about the chairman's race. Eric Marshall, manager of the Patterson campaign, said it is spending $25,000 on the poll of 600 likely voters.

One question asks respondents whether they are more or less likely to support Gray, Patterson's probable opponent, knowing that "Marion Barry is endorsing Vince Gray's candidacy." Barry, the former mayor who is the council member for Ward 8, often has been a polarizing figure.

"People have called me over the last couple months telling me they were called by Marion Barry asking them to support Vince Gray for chairman," Patterson said yesterday. "It's a pretty obvious issue to explore."

Other questions in the poll explore Patterson's potential vulnerabilities, including her identification with Ward 3, her change from a no to a yes vote on a baseball stadium lease agreement, and her reputation for being brash with her colleagues in the legislative branch and elsewhere in the D.C. government.

Patterson was endorsed yesterday by colleague Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), who sent out 4,600 postcards to her Capitol Hill constituents inviting them to the kickoff event.

Ambrose said that she spent $1,200 out of her own pocket for the mailing.

"Kathy is the quintessential good public servant," Ambrose said. "We can't afford to lose her in city government."

Patterson's campaign chairman is Roger Wilkins, a George Mason University professor, former D.C. school board member and civil rights leader.

Patterson spent her formative years in California and moved to the District in 1977 as a correspondent for the Kansas City Star. She later worked for the American Public Welfare Association and became involved in public schools advocacy when her two children attended Murch Elementary in Ward 3.

Drafted by an ad hoc coalition of public school parents, Patterson beat incumbent Jim Nathanson (D) for the Ward 3 seat in 1994. Because she has entered the chairman's race, Patterson cannot retain her Ward 3 seat.